Music Review:Chal Chalein(Ilayraja)

by Srikanth Mantravadi

Though Ilayraja’s prolific music composing continues till today,his forays into hindi filmdom can be termed as once in a blue moon efforts.So when an OST composed by him for a hindi film gets released,it stands out more so for it’s rarity if not for it’s quality.Unlike Rahman,Raja’s successor,his incursions have been rarely successful even though appreciated sparsely(Like Cheeni Kum).Listening to Chal Chalein’s OST a fleeting thought struck me.And I spell it out here at the cost of incurring the wrath of the legions of Raja fans.The way Raja moulds his tunes i.e. in hindi,I just felt that maybe his not so proper understanding of the language is/was acting like a hindrance to his composing abilities.Anyway lets get down to business rather than immerse ourselves in fugitive thoughts.

Raja falters badly in Batladein.The tune, itself,which sounds dated is often used as a motif for the hero worship numbers down south.As an afterthought I even felt it resembled to an extent the Sandeep Chowta number Dum vis a visthe tune structure.Chal Chal Chalke,although,cajoled and coaxed into action by Kavita Krishnamurthy & Co fails to rouse-Not a bad listen,as such, but again the stuck in time warp sound and the all too generic tune do not enthuse.Tum Bhi Dhoondna and it’s other variant Gup Chup Shaam Thi are far better-Suffused with melody by way of the lilting tune and Hariharan’s velvety vocals,which bind the entire effort together.The similar in tune,albeit this time sung by Sadhna Sargam,Jhoom Jhoom So Ja flows sinuously and seamlessly.But a word of caution here-Such numbers do have less repeat value because of their poignant themes and turgid melody structures.Paying tribute to the city of Allahabad,Shehar Hai Khoob Kya Hai lays out a mildly engrossing colloquy between Shreya Ghoshal and Shaan with references to the city’s places of interest.The jazzy Uff Are Tu Mirch Hai is totally discordant for what Raja imagines as a tune is totally at odds with the playful,corny lyrics.The almost nursery rhyme‘esque melody laid out by Raja fails to gel with the heroine is hot lyricsof Piyush Mishra.

Ilayraja’s tunes painfully veer towards triteness and banality compounded by some bad lyrics from Piyush Mishra.The orchestration is pedestrian for the entirity and a far departure from the dew fresh yet minimalistic sound of Cheeni Kum.So one can only console himself/herself with the corny- Form is temporary but class is permanent-adage and hope for better tidings in Balki’s Paa.

5 Comments to “Music Review:Chal Chalein(Ilayraja)”

Thought the presentation of the CCn songs were great, tunes were not bad. IR is perfect in all genres, except the western pop song composition, where he way off the mark and needs. Cheeni kum songs were really bad, except for one song. in Hindi he cannot be beat, but he goes too mod for hindi and not to the people level.

The compositions sounded incongruous for me.Some were too frazzled and jaded.Even though the songs of Cheeni Kum were re-workings of IR’s own works,they sounded fresh as far as the orchestration part was concerned.But here the tunes appear too platitudinal and commonplace,with the banal instrumentation sticking out like a sore thumb.